Takaishi Akari plays the heroine in the NHK morning drama "Bakeke" (General TV, Monday to Saturday, 8:00 AM and others). At the end of the 90th episode, which aired on February 6th, Heaven (Tommy Bastow) suggests to Toki (Takaishi) that they leave Matsue. In the preview for the next week that followed, only the expression of Yoshizawa Ryo, who plays Nishikori, was shown for about 20 seconds. We spoke to Hashizume Kuniomi, the production manager, about Nishikori's character, who will be explored in more depth from the 19th week onwards.
Nishikori has been watching over the heroine's family as Heaven's interpreter, but his background and inner thoughts have never been explored in depth until now. Hashizume reflects, "The relationship between Nishikori and Heaven seems deep, but also shallow... I've portrayed a relationship that viewers don't really understand."
He then prefaced his statement by saying, "I wanted to delve deeper into Nishikori's story as we headed into the 19th week," before explaining about Nishida Chitaro, who was the model for Nishikori.
"He was of the same generation as Wakatsuki Reijiro, who later became Prime Minister, and Kishi Seiichi, known as the father of modern sports, and was said to have been an overwhelmingly brilliant man compared to them. Due to his family's poverty and various bad timing, he had always drawn the short straw, and no matter how much he resolved to do something, nothing worked out. I'm sure that if he had taken a slightly different approach to life, he could have become something that represented Japan."
He also left behind a large number of diaries, and although they do not particularly express his true feelings, Hashizume says that reading them revealed a side of Nishida Sentaro that was not that of an unfortunate genius or a saintly gentleman.
"From the beginning, I wanted to portray a side of Nishikori that isn't shown on the surface through the character. I spoke with Yoshizawa about wanting to see his relationship with Heaven grow. Although it isn't clearly expressed, I asked him to layer the acting between Nishikori and Heaven in a way that somehow conveys the bond between them. Nishikori isn't just a teacher, he's involved with Heaven as a literary assistant, and he wants to do something for Heaven... he has been expressing these strong feelings throughout, and I felt that this has become even more pronounced since the 18th week."
It has also been revealed that Nishikori is married, but his wife has never made an appearance in any of his films, and his private life remains shrouded in mystery.
Hashizume said, "I have no intention of including Nishikori's wife until the very end."
"What's important to Nishikori isn't his family, but what he accomplishes as a man. Depicting his private life or family would only add distraction, so rather than just introducing his family halfway through, I wanted to focus on expressing the pure friendship between Nishikori and Heaven, and something beyond that."
Nishikori is a brilliant man who is often pushed around by those around him, and is loved by viewers as a somewhat absent-minded "lovable character." What fate awaits Nishikori? You won't be able to take your eyes off him until the very end.
